Why adoption of the new tool is so low

Report

Written by Lontra from 10 conversations, 3 shared documents and 3 Deep Study conversations.

The answer

People use the tool where it is the only way to get their output, and keep the spreadsheet everywhere else, because the Friday report is still built from it.

Nobody described refusing the tool. The causes sit around it: a report fed by the old sheets, details people do not have at the moment of entry, training that stopped at go-live, and no one whose job it is since the project team moved on.

What people said

Most jobs are entered twice, in the tool and in the spreadsheet 6 of 10 people Strong signal

The service desk and billing keep their own spreadsheet because the Friday workbook is built from it. Field scheduling does not re-enter jobs, because the tool is the only way to get a visit plan, but it still fills in the Friday sheet by hand. Where a second route exists, it is the one that feeds the report.

“Half my team update the job in the tool and half update the spreadsheet we've always had, and a few do both.”Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role

Show all 4 quotes and their conversations

“Half my team update the job in the tool and half update the spreadsheet we've always had, and a few do both.”

Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role · Team of 12, handles incoming requests

Lontra
To start, how does your team use the new tool on a normal day?

Team lead
Mostly to log new requests. Someone rings, it becomes a job, the job goes in the tool. Where it gets messy is after that. Half my team update the job in the tool and half update the spreadsheet we've always had, and a few do both.

Lontra
When you say a few do both, how many jobs is that in a day?

Team lead
Of the thirty or so jobs a coordinator handles, I'd say most end up in both. Because Friday's report comes off the spreadsheet, so it has to be in the spreadsheet. And the tool is what I'm told is the real one. So both.

Lontra
What does that cost your team?

Team lead
About forty minutes each a day, I worked it out once. Times twelve people. I haven't told anyone that number because I'm not sure what I'd be asking for.

Lontra
Two people on your team joined after go-live. How did they learn the tool?

Team lead
Sat next to someone. There was a ninety minute session before go-live but the two who've joined since only got whatever the person next to them knew. And that person is busy.

Lontra
When something in the tool doesn't work the way your team needs, who do you go to?

Team lead
The project team did that for the first couple of months, there was a mailbox. It's still there but I'm not sure anyone reads it. I asked for one field to be changed back in the spring and I'm still waiting.

Lontra
If you could change one thing first, what would it be?

Team lead
Pick one. Tell us which one counts and switch the other off. I don't mind which, I mind that we're doing both.
“I can do a sheet filter in two seconds. In the tool it's four clicks and a spinner.”

Service coordinator, 5 years with the company

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Service coordinator, 5 years with the company · Service desk, logs about 30 jobs a day

Lontra
Take the last job you logged. What happened from the phone ringing?

Service coordinator
A caller rang, a lift had stopped. I open a new job, caller and site are easy. Then the form wants an asset ID, a contract code and a priority from a list. Callers don't know their asset ID. So I look it up in the contracts system, in another window, and copy it across. That's a couple of minutes with someone waiting on the line.

Lontra
What do you do when you can't find the asset ID?

Service coordinator
Put 0000 in. It lets you save. Then scheduling ring us to ask for the real one. Most of us do it, I'm not proud of it.

Lontra
How often is that?

Service coordinator
Maybe one call in four.

Lontra
Once the job is in the tool, what else do you do with it?

Service coordinator
Put it in our sheet.

Lontra
What does the sheet give you that the tool doesn't?

Service coordinator
My team lead looks at it for the Friday numbers. And I can do a sheet filter in two seconds. In the tool it's four clicks and a spinner.

Lontra
If you could change one thing about the tool, what would it be?

Service coordinator
Let me save the job without the asset ID and chase it after the call.
“I fill it in by hand because the tool's version doesn't split missed visits by reason, and he wants that.”

Team lead, field scheduling, 2 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, field scheduling, 2 years in role · Team of 8, plans engineer visits

Lontra
How does your team use the tool in a normal day?

Team lead
All day. We plan the engineers' visits in it, so it's open from half seven. It's the only place the visit plan exists.

Lontra
What happens to a job that isn't in the tool?

Team lead
It doesn't get planned. Simple as that. So the service desk has to get it in, and then I get a job with half of it missing and I'm ringing them to ask.

Lontra
How often does that happen?

Team lead
A few times a day. I'd say one in five arrive missing something. Asset ID is the main one. It's mandatory on our side but the desk don't always have it when the caller rings.

Lontra
Why do you think your team uses it fully when you hear other teams don't?

Team lead
Because it's the only way we get our plan. Nobody chose it, we had no other route. If I could still plan off the spreadsheet I'd probably have gone back to it by the second month, to be honest.

Lontra
What do you send up the line each week?

Team lead
A Friday sheet for the regional manager. I fill it in by hand because the tool's version doesn't split missed visits by reason, and he wants that.

Lontra
Did anyone ask for that split to be added to the tool?

Team lead
I mentioned it to someone on the project. I don't know what happened to it. The engineers on my visits mostly show up as the van login anyway, same name against twenty jobs a day.
“Then I do the invoice run from my sheet.”

Billing administrator, 3 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Billing administrator, 3 years in role · Closes completed jobs for invoicing

Lontra
How do you use the tool?

Billing administrator
To close jobs for invoicing. When they're done.

Lontra
What do you do there?

Billing administrator
Check they're complete. Then I do the invoice run from my sheet.

Lontra
Why from your sheet?

Billing administrator
Always done it that way.

Lontra
Is there anything in the tool that would make that easier?

Billing administrator
Not sure. I haven't really looked.

Lontra
Is there anything you'd want the project team to know?

Billing administrator
It's okay. It's just another thing to fill in.

People who joined after go-live learned from the person next to them 5 of 10 people Strong signal

The only training was one 90-minute session per team the week before go-live. The self-serve guide for later joiners was never written, so newer staff pick the tool up second-hand, and most of IT's tickets come from them.

“I didn't know there was a training session until a month in, it was before I joined.”Service coordinator, 7 months with the company

Show all 4 quotes and their conversations

“I didn't know there was a training session until a month in, it was before I joined.”

Service coordinator, 7 months with the company

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Service coordinator, 7 months with the company · Joined after go-live, learned the tool by sitting with a colleague

Lontra
How did you learn the tool when you started?

Service coordinator
I sat with a colleague for the first week and she showed me what she does. I didn't know there was a training session until a month in, it was before I joined.

Lontra
Was there something she showed you that you wouldn't have found yourself?

Service coordinator
The sheet. I didn't know there were two places until the third day. I asked why and she said that's how it works, you do the tool first and then the sheet.

Lontra
What parts of the tool have you not used yet?

Service coordinator
Reports. I've never opened one. I don't know if I'm allowed to.

Lontra
When you needed access to something, what happened?

Service coordinator
I needed the contracts view, so I put a request in. It was three weeks. Meanwhile I asked the person next to me to look things up for me.

Lontra
What would have helped most in your first week?

Service coordinator
A single page saying what you do on a call, start to finish. Everything else I picked up.
“the two who've joined since only got whatever the person next to them knew.”

Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role · Team of 12, handles incoming requests

Lontra
To start, how does your team use the new tool on a normal day?

Team lead
Mostly to log new requests. Someone rings, it becomes a job, the job goes in the tool. Where it gets messy is after that. Half my team update the job in the tool and half update the spreadsheet we've always had, and a few do both.

Lontra
When you say a few do both, how many jobs is that in a day?

Team lead
Of the thirty or so jobs a coordinator handles, I'd say most end up in both. Because Friday's report comes off the spreadsheet, so it has to be in the spreadsheet. And the tool is what I'm told is the real one. So both.

Lontra
What does that cost your team?

Team lead
About forty minutes each a day, I worked it out once. Times twelve people. I haven't told anyone that number because I'm not sure what I'd be asking for.

Lontra
Two people on your team joined after go-live. How did they learn the tool?

Team lead
Sat next to someone. There was a ninety minute session before go-live but the two who've joined since only got whatever the person next to them knew. And that person is busy.

Lontra
When something in the tool doesn't work the way your team needs, who do you go to?

Team lead
The project team did that for the first couple of months, there was a mailbox. It's still there but I'm not sure anyone reads it. I asked for one field to be changed back in the spring and I'm still waiting.

Lontra
If you could change one thing first, what would it be?

Team lead
Pick one. Tell us which one counts and switch the other off. I don't mind which, I mind that we're doing both.
“I wrote my own cheat sheet. It's seven pages.”

Super-user, service coordinator

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Super-user, service coordinator · Volunteered to help colleagues, about two hours a week

Lontra
What does being a super-user involve, in practice?

Super-user
Officially a couple of hours a week. In practice it's the whole of lunchtime some days. People message me, how do I do this, how do I find that, and I show them. I wrote my own cheat sheet. It's seven pages.

Lontra
Who asked you to write it?

Super-user
Nobody, I just started. I haven't shown it to the project team because I'm not sure it's right. Where the tool didn't do what I expected I worked out my own way and wrote that down.

Lontra
What do people ask you most?

Super-user
Three things. How to close a job, how to find one they didn't create, and why they can't see the contracts bit. Closing is the big one, it needs a part code and people don't have it to hand.

Lontra
Do you use the tool and the spreadsheet yourself?

Super-user
I do both. I have to. I've started keeping a tally of how many jobs I enter twice, just for myself.

Lontra
Who do you report to, as a super-user?

Super-user
Nobody, really. The project team had a catch-up with us every other week for the first three months. Then it stopped when they moved on to the next thing.

Lontra
What would you want instead?

Super-user
Someone whose job it is. Not a volunteer. Me doing it at lunch isn't a plan.
“There was no budget to run it again.”

Change lead, transformation team

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Change lead, transformation team · Ran the rollout until week eight, now a few hours a week

Lontra
When the tool went live, what did you expect usage to look like by now?

Change lead
Everyone on it by week four. That was the plan. Team spreadsheets read-only, the tool as the one place.

Lontra
The plan you shared says team spreadsheets go read-only at week four. What happened at week four?

Change lead
It didn't happen. One of the managers needed the Friday workbook for one more month, which seemed reasonable, and nobody put a new date in. By week eight we were already being pulled onto the next project.

Lontra
The plan also says handover to operations at week eight, with the owner to be confirmed. Who owns how the tool is used today?

Change lead
Operations, on paper. In practice I do a few hours a week, IT does the access, and the super-users do what they can. There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.

Lontra
What did training look like?

Change lead
Ninety minutes per team, the week before go-live. There was no budget to run it again. For people joining later there was going to be a self-serve guide. I haven't written it.

Lontra
There's a weekly report in the tool. Has anyone been using it?

Change lead
We built it in month three. It has the same numbers as the Friday workbook, I think. Nobody told us it wasn't right, so I assumed it was fine.

Lontra
You said you think it has the same numbers. Has anyone compared them?

Change lead
No. Honestly, no. And we knew new accounts for engineers were slow, so we told crews to share a van login until theirs came through. Then nobody told them to stop.

Creating or closing a job needs a detail that sits in another system 5 of 10 people Strong signal

The form asks for an asset ID when a job is created and a part code when it is closed. Both are held elsewhere, so people look them up mid-call, type a placeholder, or leave the job open and chase it later.

“Callers don't know their asset ID.”Service coordinator, 5 years with the company

Show all 4 quotes and their conversations

“Callers don't know their asset ID.”

Service coordinator, 5 years with the company

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Service coordinator, 5 years with the company · Service desk, logs about 30 jobs a day

Lontra
Take the last job you logged. What happened from the phone ringing?

Service coordinator
A caller rang, a lift had stopped. I open a new job, caller and site are easy. Then the form wants an asset ID, a contract code and a priority from a list. Callers don't know their asset ID. So I look it up in the contracts system, in another window, and copy it across. That's a couple of minutes with someone waiting on the line.

Lontra
What do you do when you can't find the asset ID?

Service coordinator
Put 0000 in. It lets you save. Then scheduling ring us to ask for the real one. Most of us do it, I'm not proud of it.

Lontra
How often is that?

Service coordinator
Maybe one call in four.

Lontra
Once the job is in the tool, what else do you do with it?

Service coordinator
Put it in our sheet.

Lontra
What does the sheet give you that the tool doesn't?

Service coordinator
My team lead looks at it for the Friday numbers. And I can do a sheet filter in two seconds. In the tool it's four clicks and a spinner.

Lontra
If you could change one thing about the tool, what would it be?

Service coordinator
Let me save the job without the asset ID and chase it after the call.
“Put 0000 in. It lets you save.”

Service coordinator, 5 years with the company

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Service coordinator, 5 years with the company · Service desk, logs about 30 jobs a day

Lontra
Take the last job you logged. What happened from the phone ringing?

Service coordinator
A caller rang, a lift had stopped. I open a new job, caller and site are easy. Then the form wants an asset ID, a contract code and a priority from a list. Callers don't know their asset ID. So I look it up in the contracts system, in another window, and copy it across. That's a couple of minutes with someone waiting on the line.

Lontra
What do you do when you can't find the asset ID?

Service coordinator
Put 0000 in. It lets you save. Then scheduling ring us to ask for the real one. Most of us do it, I'm not proud of it.

Lontra
How often is that?

Service coordinator
Maybe one call in four.

Lontra
Once the job is in the tool, what else do you do with it?

Service coordinator
Put it in our sheet.

Lontra
What does the sheet give you that the tool doesn't?

Service coordinator
My team lead looks at it for the Friday numbers. And I can do a sheet filter in two seconds. In the tool it's four clicks and a spinner.

Lontra
If you could change one thing about the tool, what would it be?

Service coordinator
Let me save the job without the asset ID and chase it after the call.
“Part codes. Can't close without one.”

Field engineer, 9 years with the company

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Field engineer, 9 years with the company · Updates jobs from a tablet in the van

Lontra
How do you use the tool in a normal day?

Field engineer
Van tablet. Open the job, do the job, close it.

Lontra
Is that your own login?

Field engineer
Van's.

Lontra
Could you say a bit more about that?

Field engineer
Two of us on the van. We use the van login. Mine took too long.

Lontra
How long?

Field engineer
Weeks. Didn't wait.

Lontra
What gets in the way of closing a job?

Field engineer
Part codes. Can't close without one. The stock system has them, not the tablet.

Lontra
Anything else you'd want the project team to know?

Field engineer
No. Works fine mostly.
“I'd say one in five arrive missing something.”

Team lead, field scheduling, 2 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, field scheduling, 2 years in role · Team of 8, plans engineer visits

Lontra
How does your team use the tool in a normal day?

Team lead
All day. We plan the engineers' visits in it, so it's open from half seven. It's the only place the visit plan exists.

Lontra
What happens to a job that isn't in the tool?

Team lead
It doesn't get planned. Simple as that. So the service desk has to get it in, and then I get a job with half of it missing and I'm ringing them to ask.

Lontra
How often does that happen?

Team lead
A few times a day. I'd say one in five arrive missing something. Asset ID is the main one. It's mandatory on our side but the desk don't always have it when the caller rings.

Lontra
Why do you think your team uses it fully when you hear other teams don't?

Team lead
Because it's the only way we get our plan. Nobody chose it, we had no other route. If I could still plan off the spreadsheet I'd probably have gone back to it by the second month, to be honest.

Lontra
What do you send up the line each week?

Team lead
A Friday sheet for the regional manager. I fill it in by hand because the tool's version doesn't split missed visits by reason, and he wants that.

Lontra
Did anyone ask for that split to be added to the tool?

Team lead
I mentioned it to someone on the project. I don't know what happened to it. The engineers on my visits mostly show up as the van login anyway, same name against twenty jobs a day.

Nobody has owned how the tool is used since the project team moved on 5 of 10 people Strong signal

The plan handed the tool to operations at week eight with the owner marked to be confirmed. Requests for changes, access and reports now sit with whoever answers, and the super-users work at lunchtime.

“There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.”Change lead, transformation team

Show all 4 quotes and their conversations

“There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.”

Change lead, transformation team

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Change lead, transformation team · Ran the rollout until week eight, now a few hours a week

Lontra
When the tool went live, what did you expect usage to look like by now?

Change lead
Everyone on it by week four. That was the plan. Team spreadsheets read-only, the tool as the one place.

Lontra
The plan you shared says team spreadsheets go read-only at week four. What happened at week four?

Change lead
It didn't happen. One of the managers needed the Friday workbook for one more month, which seemed reasonable, and nobody put a new date in. By week eight we were already being pulled onto the next project.

Lontra
The plan also says handover to operations at week eight, with the owner to be confirmed. Who owns how the tool is used today?

Change lead
Operations, on paper. In practice I do a few hours a week, IT does the access, and the super-users do what they can. There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.

Lontra
What did training look like?

Change lead
Ninety minutes per team, the week before go-live. There was no budget to run it again. For people joining later there was going to be a self-serve guide. I haven't written it.

Lontra
There's a weekly report in the tool. Has anyone been using it?

Change lead
We built it in month three. It has the same numbers as the Friday workbook, I think. Nobody told us it wasn't right, so I assumed it was fine.

Lontra
You said you think it has the same numbers. Has anyone compared them?

Change lead
No. Honestly, no. And we knew new accounts for engineers were slow, so we told crews to share a van login until theirs came through. Then nobody told them to stop.
“Then it stopped when they moved on to the next thing.”

Super-user, service coordinator

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Super-user, service coordinator · Volunteered to help colleagues, about two hours a week

Lontra
What does being a super-user involve, in practice?

Super-user
Officially a couple of hours a week. In practice it's the whole of lunchtime some days. People message me, how do I do this, how do I find that, and I show them. I wrote my own cheat sheet. It's seven pages.

Lontra
Who asked you to write it?

Super-user
Nobody, I just started. I haven't shown it to the project team because I'm not sure it's right. Where the tool didn't do what I expected I worked out my own way and wrote that down.

Lontra
What do people ask you most?

Super-user
Three things. How to close a job, how to find one they didn't create, and why they can't see the contracts bit. Closing is the big one, it needs a part code and people don't have it to hand.

Lontra
Do you use the tool and the spreadsheet yourself?

Super-user
I do both. I have to. I've started keeping a tally of how many jobs I enter twice, just for myself.

Lontra
Who do you report to, as a super-user?

Super-user
Nobody, really. The project team had a catch-up with us every other week for the first three months. Then it stopped when they moved on to the next thing.

Lontra
What would you want instead?

Super-user
Someone whose job it is. Not a volunteer. Me doing it at lunch isn't a plan.
“The project team were around until the summer and then they weren't.”

Regional operations manager

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Regional operations manager · Covers the service desk and field scheduling

Lontra
How do you use the tool yourself?

Regional operations manager
I don't, day to day. My teams do. I told them in the first week that the tool is the system of record, full stop.

Lontra
What do you look at each week to see how your teams are doing?

Regional operations manager
The Friday workbook. Eleven columns, I know it by heart. It lands on Friday afternoon and I read it Monday morning before the nine o'clock operations call.

Lontra
Where do the numbers in the workbook come from?

Regional operations manager
The team spreadsheets, I think. My operations administrator puts it together.

Lontra
You said the tool is the system of record. And the workbook is built from the spreadsheets. Which one do you go with when they differ?

Regional operations manager
The workbook. I've used it for six years and I know what's in it. I'd never really thought of asking for the workbook as telling them to keep the spreadsheets.

Lontra
If the tool gave you the same eleven columns, would you use it?

Regional operations manager
Yes. Straight away. Nobody has shown me one. Nobody has said, here's your report in the new tool.

Lontra
Who would you ask if you wanted that?

Regional operations manager
No idea. The project team were around until the summer and then they weren't.

Lontra
Is there someone who knows how the workbook is built?

Regional operations manager
My operations administrator. She'd know where every number comes from. Talk to her.
“I asked for one field to be changed back in the spring and I'm still waiting.”

Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role · Team of 12, handles incoming requests

Lontra
To start, how does your team use the new tool on a normal day?

Team lead
Mostly to log new requests. Someone rings, it becomes a job, the job goes in the tool. Where it gets messy is after that. Half my team update the job in the tool and half update the spreadsheet we've always had, and a few do both.

Lontra
When you say a few do both, how many jobs is that in a day?

Team lead
Of the thirty or so jobs a coordinator handles, I'd say most end up in both. Because Friday's report comes off the spreadsheet, so it has to be in the spreadsheet. And the tool is what I'm told is the real one. So both.

Lontra
What does that cost your team?

Team lead
About forty minutes each a day, I worked it out once. Times twelve people. I haven't told anyone that number because I'm not sure what I'd be asking for.

Lontra
Two people on your team joined after go-live. How did they learn the tool?

Team lead
Sat next to someone. There was a ninety minute session before go-live but the two who've joined since only got whatever the person next to them knew. And that person is busy.

Lontra
When something in the tool doesn't work the way your team needs, who do you go to?

Team lead
The project team did that for the first couple of months, there was a mailbox. It's still there but I'm not sure anyone reads it. I asked for one field to be changed back in the spring and I'm still waiting.

Lontra
If you could change one thing first, what would it be?

Team lead
Pick one. Tell us which one counts and switch the other off. I don't mind which, I mind that we're doing both.

Engineers share a van login because new accounts take weeks 4 of 10 people Emerging

A new engineer account needs the line manager, then operations, then IT, and can take three to four weeks. Crews were told to share a van login in the meantime and nobody said when to stop, so 11 active users hide a larger number of people.

“Two of us on the van. We use the van login.”Field engineer, 9 years with the company

Show all 3 quotes and their conversations

“Two of us on the van. We use the van login.”

Field engineer, 9 years with the company

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Field engineer, 9 years with the company · Updates jobs from a tablet in the van

Lontra
How do you use the tool in a normal day?

Field engineer
Van tablet. Open the job, do the job, close it.

Lontra
Is that your own login?

Field engineer
Van's.

Lontra
Could you say a bit more about that?

Field engineer
Two of us on the van. We use the van login. Mine took too long.

Lontra
How long?

Field engineer
Weeks. Didn't wait.

Lontra
What gets in the way of closing a job?

Field engineer
Part codes. Can't close without one. The stock system has them, not the tablet.

Lontra
Anything else you'd want the project team to know?

Field engineer
No. Works fine mostly.
“I can see a login, not a person.”

IT support analyst

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: IT support analyst · Second line for the tool, a desk of three

Lontra
What do people contact IT about for this tool?

IT support analyst
Not bugs, mostly. Access. Who can see what. Three tickets in four are access or 'I can't find this'. And it's nearly always people who joined since go-live. The questions are things that were in the training.

Lontra
When someone needs a new account, what happens?

IT support analyst
The line manager approves, then the tool's owner in operations, then us. We do our bit in a day. The other two steps are where it waits. For engineers it can be three or four weeks.

Lontra
In the usage export you shared, field engineers show 46 licences, 11 active in the last 30 days, and 402 jobs closed. How do those fit together?

IT support analyst
Shared logins. I can see a login, not a person. One van login can close forty jobs a week and I'd see one user.

Lontra
How many vans are sharing?

IT support analyst
I don't know. I couldn't tell you without ringing every depot.

Lontra
Where does the active-user figure get reported?

IT support analyst
It's in the steering pack as active users. It says eleven out of forty-six and everyone reads that as the rest not using it.

Lontra
What would help most from where you sit?

IT support analyst
A named person on the business side who decides who gets what access. Right now every request is a negotiation.
“we told crews to share a van login until theirs came through.”

Change lead, transformation team

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Change lead, transformation team · Ran the rollout until week eight, now a few hours a week

Lontra
When the tool went live, what did you expect usage to look like by now?

Change lead
Everyone on it by week four. That was the plan. Team spreadsheets read-only, the tool as the one place.

Lontra
The plan you shared says team spreadsheets go read-only at week four. What happened at week four?

Change lead
It didn't happen. One of the managers needed the Friday workbook for one more month, which seemed reasonable, and nobody put a new date in. By week eight we were already being pulled onto the next project.

Lontra
The plan also says handover to operations at week eight, with the owner to be confirmed. Who owns how the tool is used today?

Change lead
Operations, on paper. In practice I do a few hours a week, IT does the access, and the super-users do what they can. There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.

Lontra
What did training look like?

Change lead
Ninety minutes per team, the week before go-live. There was no budget to run it again. For people joining later there was going to be a self-serve guide. I haven't written it.

Lontra
There's a weekly report in the tool. Has anyone been using it?

Change lead
We built it in month three. It has the same numbers as the Friday workbook, I think. Nobody told us it wasn't right, so I assumed it was fine.

Lontra
You said you think it has the same numbers. Has anyone compared them?

Change lead
No. Honestly, no. And we knew new accounts for engineers were slow, so we told crews to share a van login until theirs came through. Then nobody told them to stop.

Where accounts differ

Why the spreadsheet is still there

Coordinators and team leads keep the spreadsheet because the Friday report comes from it. The regional manager did not mean it as an instruction and would use the tool's report if he had seen one. The project team built that report in month three and assumed it was fine because nobody said otherwise.

Team leads and coordinators 4 people

“Because Friday's report comes off the spreadsheet, so it has to be in the spreadsheet.”

Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role · Team of 12, handles incoming requests

Lontra
To start, how does your team use the new tool on a normal day?

Team lead
Mostly to log new requests. Someone rings, it becomes a job, the job goes in the tool. Where it gets messy is after that. Half my team update the job in the tool and half update the spreadsheet we've always had, and a few do both.

Lontra
When you say a few do both, how many jobs is that in a day?

Team lead
Of the thirty or so jobs a coordinator handles, I'd say most end up in both. Because Friday's report comes off the spreadsheet, so it has to be in the spreadsheet. And the tool is what I'm told is the real one. So both.

Lontra
What does that cost your team?

Team lead
About forty minutes each a day, I worked it out once. Times twelve people. I haven't told anyone that number because I'm not sure what I'd be asking for.

Lontra
Two people on your team joined after go-live. How did they learn the tool?

Team lead
Sat next to someone. There was a ninety minute session before go-live but the two who've joined since only got whatever the person next to them knew. And that person is busy.

Lontra
When something in the tool doesn't work the way your team needs, who do you go to?

Team lead
The project team did that for the first couple of months, there was a mailbox. It's still there but I'm not sure anyone reads it. I asked for one field to be changed back in the spring and I'm still waiting.

Lontra
If you could change one thing first, what would it be?

Team lead
Pick one. Tell us which one counts and switch the other off. I don't mind which, I mind that we're doing both.
“My team lead looks at it for the Friday numbers.”

Service coordinator, 5 years with the company

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Service coordinator, 5 years with the company · Service desk, logs about 30 jobs a day

Lontra
Take the last job you logged. What happened from the phone ringing?

Service coordinator
A caller rang, a lift had stopped. I open a new job, caller and site are easy. Then the form wants an asset ID, a contract code and a priority from a list. Callers don't know their asset ID. So I look it up in the contracts system, in another window, and copy it across. That's a couple of minutes with someone waiting on the line.

Lontra
What do you do when you can't find the asset ID?

Service coordinator
Put 0000 in. It lets you save. Then scheduling ring us to ask for the real one. Most of us do it, I'm not proud of it.

Lontra
How often is that?

Service coordinator
Maybe one call in four.

Lontra
Once the job is in the tool, what else do you do with it?

Service coordinator
Put it in our sheet.

Lontra
What does the sheet give you that the tool doesn't?

Service coordinator
My team lead looks at it for the Friday numbers. And I can do a sheet filter in two seconds. In the tool it's four clicks and a spinner.

Lontra
If you could change one thing about the tool, what would it be?

Service coordinator
Let me save the job without the asset ID and chase it after the call.
“It's okay. It's just another thing to fill in.”

Billing administrator, 3 years in role

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Billing administrator, 3 years in role · Closes completed jobs for invoicing

Lontra
How do you use the tool?

Billing administrator
To close jobs for invoicing. When they're done.

Lontra
What do you do there?

Billing administrator
Check they're complete. Then I do the invoice run from my sheet.

Lontra
Why from your sheet?

Billing administrator
Always done it that way.

Lontra
Is there anything in the tool that would make that easier?

Billing administrator
Not sure. I haven't really looked.

Lontra
Is there anything you'd want the project team to know?

Billing administrator
It's okay. It's just another thing to fill in.

Regional manager 1 person

“I'd never really thought of asking for the workbook as telling them to keep the spreadsheets.”

Regional operations manager

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Regional operations manager · Covers the service desk and field scheduling

Lontra
How do you use the tool yourself?

Regional operations manager
I don't, day to day. My teams do. I told them in the first week that the tool is the system of record, full stop.

Lontra
What do you look at each week to see how your teams are doing?

Regional operations manager
The Friday workbook. Eleven columns, I know it by heart. It lands on Friday afternoon and I read it Monday morning before the nine o'clock operations call.

Lontra
Where do the numbers in the workbook come from?

Regional operations manager
The team spreadsheets, I think. My operations administrator puts it together.

Lontra
You said the tool is the system of record. And the workbook is built from the spreadsheets. Which one do you go with when they differ?

Regional operations manager
The workbook. I've used it for six years and I know what's in it. I'd never really thought of asking for the workbook as telling them to keep the spreadsheets.

Lontra
If the tool gave you the same eleven columns, would you use it?

Regional operations manager
Yes. Straight away. Nobody has shown me one. Nobody has said, here's your report in the new tool.

Lontra
Who would you ask if you wanted that?

Regional operations manager
No idea. The project team were around until the summer and then they weren't.

Lontra
Is there someone who knows how the workbook is built?

Regional operations manager
My operations administrator. She'd know where every number comes from. Talk to her.
“Nobody has shown me one.”

Regional operations manager

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Regional operations manager · Covers the service desk and field scheduling

Lontra
How do you use the tool yourself?

Regional operations manager
I don't, day to day. My teams do. I told them in the first week that the tool is the system of record, full stop.

Lontra
What do you look at each week to see how your teams are doing?

Regional operations manager
The Friday workbook. Eleven columns, I know it by heart. It lands on Friday afternoon and I read it Monday morning before the nine o'clock operations call.

Lontra
Where do the numbers in the workbook come from?

Regional operations manager
The team spreadsheets, I think. My operations administrator puts it together.

Lontra
You said the tool is the system of record. And the workbook is built from the spreadsheets. Which one do you go with when they differ?

Regional operations manager
The workbook. I've used it for six years and I know what's in it. I'd never really thought of asking for the workbook as telling them to keep the spreadsheets.

Lontra
If the tool gave you the same eleven columns, would you use it?

Regional operations manager
Yes. Straight away. Nobody has shown me one. Nobody has said, here's your report in the new tool.

Lontra
Who would you ask if you wanted that?

Regional operations manager
No idea. The project team were around until the summer and then they weren't.

Lontra
Is there someone who knows how the workbook is built?

Regional operations manager
My operations administrator. She'd know where every number comes from. Talk to her.

Project team 1 person

“Nobody told us it wasn't right, so I assumed it was fine.”

Change lead, transformation team

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Change lead, transformation team · Ran the rollout until week eight, now a few hours a week

Lontra
When the tool went live, what did you expect usage to look like by now?

Change lead
Everyone on it by week four. That was the plan. Team spreadsheets read-only, the tool as the one place.

Lontra
The plan you shared says team spreadsheets go read-only at week four. What happened at week four?

Change lead
It didn't happen. One of the managers needed the Friday workbook for one more month, which seemed reasonable, and nobody put a new date in. By week eight we were already being pulled onto the next project.

Lontra
The plan also says handover to operations at week eight, with the owner to be confirmed. Who owns how the tool is used today?

Change lead
Operations, on paper. In practice I do a few hours a week, IT does the access, and the super-users do what they can. There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.

Lontra
What did training look like?

Change lead
Ninety minutes per team, the week before go-live. There was no budget to run it again. For people joining later there was going to be a self-serve guide. I haven't written it.

Lontra
There's a weekly report in the tool. Has anyone been using it?

Change lead
We built it in month three. It has the same numbers as the Friday workbook, I think. Nobody told us it wasn't right, so I assumed it was fine.

Lontra
You said you think it has the same numbers. Has anyone compared them?

Change lead
No. Honestly, no. And we knew new accounts for engineers were slow, so we told crews to share a van login until theirs came through. Then nobody told them to stop.

Documents

Rollout plan (extract) Shared by a participant

Five phases from configuration to handover. Spreadsheets go read-only at week 4, the training is one session per team, the guide for later joiners is still to be written and the owner after week 8 is blank.

Shared by: Change lead, transformation team

Open the document

The line Lontra asked about is marked.

ROLLOUT PLAN, PLANNING AND TICKETING TOOL (extract)

Phase 1, weeks -6 to -1: configure the tool, move open jobs in from team spreadsheets. Owner: project team.

Phase 2, week -2: training, one 90-minute session per team. Owner: change lead.

Phase 3, week 0: go-live for all teams.

Team spreadsheets set to read-only at week +4.

Phase 4, weeks +1 to +8: floor-walking and fixes. Owner: project team.

Phase 5, week +8: handover to operations. Owner: to be confirmed.

Later joiners: self-serve guide to be written after go-live.

What Lontra asked about it

Excerpt from the conversation with: Change lead, transformation team · Ran the rollout until week eight, now a few hours a week

Lontra

When the tool went live, what did you expect usage to look like by now?

Change lead

Everyone on it by week four. That was the plan. Team spreadsheets read-only, the tool as the one place.

Lontra

The plan you shared says team spreadsheets go read-only at week four. What happened at week four?

Change lead

It didn't happen. One of the managers needed the Friday workbook for one more month, which seemed reasonable, and nobody put a new date in. By week eight we were already being pulled onto the next project.

Lontra

The plan also says handover to operations at week eight, with the owner to be confirmed. Who owns how the tool is used today?

Change lead

Operations, on paper. In practice I do a few hours a week, IT does the access, and the super-users do what they can. There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.

Lontra

What did training look like?

Change lead

Ninety minutes per team, the week before go-live. There was no budget to run it again. For people joining later there was going to be a self-serve guide. I haven't written it.

Lontra

There's a weekly report in the tool. Has anyone been using it?

Change lead

We built it in month three. It has the same numbers as the Friday workbook, I think. Nobody told us it wasn't right, so I assumed it was fine.

Lontra

You said you think it has the same numbers. Has anyone compared them?

Change lead

No. Honestly, no. And we knew new accounts for engineers were slow, so we told crews to share a van login until theirs came through. Then nobody told them to stop.

Tool usage by team, last 30 days Shared by a participant

Licences, people who logged in and jobs created and closed, by team. Field engineers have 46 licences, 11 logins and 402 closed jobs.

Shared by: IT support analyst

Open the document

The line Lontra asked about is marked.

Team	Licences	Logged in (30 days)	Jobs created	Jobs closed
Field scheduling	8	8	355	350
Service desk	14	6	1196	402
Billing	5	1	0	311
Depot supervisors	9	2	48	40
Field engineers	46	11	0	402

What Lontra asked about it

Excerpt from the conversation with: IT support analyst · Second line for the tool, a desk of three

Lontra

What do people contact IT about for this tool?

IT support analyst

Not bugs, mostly. Access. Who can see what. Three tickets in four are access or 'I can't find this'. And it's nearly always people who joined since go-live. The questions are things that were in the training.

Lontra

When someone needs a new account, what happens?

IT support analyst

The line manager approves, then the tool's owner in operations, then us. We do our bit in a day. The other two steps are where it waits. For engineers it can be three or four weeks.

Lontra

In the usage export you shared, field engineers show 46 licences, 11 active in the last 30 days, and 402 jobs closed. How do those fit together?

IT support analyst

Shared logins. I can see a login, not a person. One van login can close forty jobs a week and I'd see one user.

Lontra

How many vans are sharing?

IT support analyst

I don't know. I couldn't tell you without ringing every depot.

Lontra

Where does the active-user figure get reported?

IT support analyst

It's in the steering pack as active users. It says eleven out of forty-six and everyone reads that as the rest not using it.

Lontra

What would help most from where you sit?

IT support analyst

A named person on the business side who decides who gets what access. Right now every request is a negotiation.

Jobs entered twice, one week Shared by a participant

One super-user's own tally for a week: 74 jobs in the tool, 61 typed again into the spreadsheet, about 100 minutes.

Shared by: Super-user, service coordinator · Shared during Deep Study

Open the document

The line Lontra asked about is marked.

Day	Jobs entered in tool	Also entered in sheet	Minutes on second entry
Mon	16	13	22
Tue	15	12	19
Wed	19	17	27
Thu	12	9	15
Fri	12	10	17
Total	74	61	100

What Lontra asked about it

Excerpt from the Deep Study conversation with: Super-user, service coordinator · Volunteered to help colleagues, about two hours a week

Lontra

You said you'd started a tally of jobs you enter twice. Could you tell me what it shows?

Super-user

I shared it. One week of my own. Seventy-four jobs in the tool, sixty-one of them typed again into the sheet, about a hundred minutes on the second entry.

Lontra

Wednesday shows 19 jobs, 17 of them entered twice and 27 minutes. Why is Wednesday the heaviest?

Super-user

Wednesday is the busiest day for calls. Monday and Tuesday are planned work, by Wednesday the week's problems have turned up. Also it's the day the team leads ask for their sheet to be topped up.

Lontra

And the thirteen that weren't entered twice?

Super-user

Mostly engineer call-backs. The sheet doesn't have a column for them, so I don't bother.

Lontra

Your cheat sheet. Where would you want it to go?

Super-user

To someone who can check it. I'm fairly sure a couple of my workarounds are wrong, and I'd rather someone fixed it than the whole floor copied it.

What we still don’t know

Whether the Friday workbook and the tool's weekly report give the same totals.The change lead thinks they do and has not checked. The operations administrator has never opened the tool's report. Nobody has put the two side by side, so this study cannot say which one is right.
How many field engineers actually use the tool through a shared van login.IT sees a login, not a person, and could only find out by asking each depot. The 11 active users in the steering pack is a count of logins.

Deep Study

A few days after the last conversation, Deep Study went back to two people whose answers left a question open, and spoke to one colleague a participant suggested.

Regional operations manager Asked again

Said he would use the tool's report if it had his columns. Had he seen it?

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: ·

Super-user, service coordinator Asked again

Mentioned a private tally of jobs entered twice. What does it show?

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: ·

Operations administrator, 5 years in role Suggested by: Regional operations manager

Suggested by the regional manager: she builds the Friday workbook from the team spreadsheets.

Open the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: ·

What Deep Study added

The tool's weekly report exists and has 8 of the regional manager's 11 columns. He had not seen it, and would use it for those eight.
One super-user's own week shows 61 of 74 jobs entered twice, about 100 minutes.
The Friday workbook takes about two and a half hours to build by hand and has never been compared with the tool's report.

Who took part

People are described by their role and context, as in any Lontra study.

Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role Team of 12, handles incoming requests · 19 min

Read the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role · Team of 12, handles incoming requests

Lontra
To start, how does your team use the new tool on a normal day?

Team lead
Mostly to log new requests. Someone rings, it becomes a job, the job goes in the tool. Where it gets messy is after that. Half my team update the job in the tool and half update the spreadsheet we've always had, and a few do both.

Lontra
When you say a few do both, how many jobs is that in a day?

Team lead
Of the thirty or so jobs a coordinator handles, I'd say most end up in both. Because Friday's report comes off the spreadsheet, so it has to be in the spreadsheet. And the tool is what I'm told is the real one. So both.

Lontra
What does that cost your team?

Team lead
About forty minutes each a day, I worked it out once. Times twelve people. I haven't told anyone that number because I'm not sure what I'd be asking for.

Lontra
Two people on your team joined after go-live. How did they learn the tool?

Team lead
Sat next to someone. There was a ninety minute session before go-live but the two who've joined since only got whatever the person next to them knew. And that person is busy.

Lontra
When something in the tool doesn't work the way your team needs, who do you go to?

Team lead
The project team did that for the first couple of months, there was a mailbox. It's still there but I'm not sure anyone reads it. I asked for one field to be changed back in the spring and I'm still waiting.

Lontra
If you could change one thing first, what would it be?

Team lead
Pick one. Tell us which one counts and switch the other off. I don't mind which, I mind that we're doing both.
Team lead, field scheduling, 2 years in role Team of 8, plans engineer visits · 17 min

Read the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Team lead, field scheduling, 2 years in role · Team of 8, plans engineer visits

Lontra
How does your team use the tool in a normal day?

Team lead
All day. We plan the engineers' visits in it, so it's open from half seven. It's the only place the visit plan exists.

Lontra
What happens to a job that isn't in the tool?

Team lead
It doesn't get planned. Simple as that. So the service desk has to get it in, and then I get a job with half of it missing and I'm ringing them to ask.

Lontra
How often does that happen?

Team lead
A few times a day. I'd say one in five arrive missing something. Asset ID is the main one. It's mandatory on our side but the desk don't always have it when the caller rings.

Lontra
Why do you think your team uses it fully when you hear other teams don't?

Team lead
Because it's the only way we get our plan. Nobody chose it, we had no other route. If I could still plan off the spreadsheet I'd probably have gone back to it by the second month, to be honest.

Lontra
What do you send up the line each week?

Team lead
A Friday sheet for the regional manager. I fill it in by hand because the tool's version doesn't split missed visits by reason, and he wants that.

Lontra
Did anyone ask for that split to be added to the tool?

Team lead
I mentioned it to someone on the project. I don't know what happened to it. The engineers on my visits mostly show up as the van login anyway, same name against twenty jobs a day.
Service coordinator, 5 years with the company Service desk, logs about 30 jobs a day · 15 min

Read the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Service coordinator, 5 years with the company · Service desk, logs about 30 jobs a day

Lontra
Take the last job you logged. What happened from the phone ringing?

Service coordinator
A caller rang, a lift had stopped. I open a new job, caller and site are easy. Then the form wants an asset ID, a contract code and a priority from a list. Callers don't know their asset ID. So I look it up in the contracts system, in another window, and copy it across. That's a couple of minutes with someone waiting on the line.

Lontra
What do you do when you can't find the asset ID?

Service coordinator
Put 0000 in. It lets you save. Then scheduling ring us to ask for the real one. Most of us do it, I'm not proud of it.

Lontra
How often is that?

Service coordinator
Maybe one call in four.

Lontra
Once the job is in the tool, what else do you do with it?

Service coordinator
Put it in our sheet.

Lontra
What does the sheet give you that the tool doesn't?

Service coordinator
My team lead looks at it for the Friday numbers. And I can do a sheet filter in two seconds. In the tool it's four clicks and a spinner.

Lontra
If you could change one thing about the tool, what would it be?

Service coordinator
Let me save the job without the asset ID and chase it after the call.
Service coordinator, 7 months with the company Joined after go-live, learned the tool by sitting with a colleague · 12 min

Read the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Service coordinator, 7 months with the company · Joined after go-live, learned the tool by sitting with a colleague

Lontra
How did you learn the tool when you started?

Service coordinator
I sat with a colleague for the first week and she showed me what she does. I didn't know there was a training session until a month in, it was before I joined.

Lontra
Was there something she showed you that you wouldn't have found yourself?

Service coordinator
The sheet. I didn't know there were two places until the third day. I asked why and she said that's how it works, you do the tool first and then the sheet.

Lontra
What parts of the tool have you not used yet?

Service coordinator
Reports. I've never opened one. I don't know if I'm allowed to.

Lontra
When you needed access to something, what happened?

Service coordinator
I needed the contracts view, so I put a request in. It was three weeks. Meanwhile I asked the person next to me to look things up for me.

Lontra
What would have helped most in your first week?

Service coordinator
A single page saying what you do on a call, start to finish. Everything else I picked up.
Field engineer, 9 years with the company Updates jobs from a tablet in the van · 5 min

Read the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Field engineer, 9 years with the company · Updates jobs from a tablet in the van

Lontra
How do you use the tool in a normal day?

Field engineer
Van tablet. Open the job, do the job, close it.

Lontra
Is that your own login?

Field engineer
Van's.

Lontra
Could you say a bit more about that?

Field engineer
Two of us on the van. We use the van login. Mine took too long.

Lontra
How long?

Field engineer
Weeks. Didn't wait.

Lontra
What gets in the way of closing a job?

Field engineer
Part codes. Can't close without one. The stock system has them, not the tablet.

Lontra
Anything else you'd want the project team to know?

Field engineer
No. Works fine mostly.
Super-user, service coordinator Volunteered to help colleagues, about two hours a week · 23 min

Read the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: Super-user, service coordinator · Volunteered to help colleagues, about two hours a week

Lontra
What does being a super-user involve, in practice?

Super-user
Officially a couple of hours a week. In practice it's the whole of lunchtime some days. People message me, how do I do this, how do I find that, and I show them. I wrote my own cheat sheet. It's seven pages.

Lontra
Who asked you to write it?

Super-user
Nobody, I just started. I haven't shown it to the project team because I'm not sure it's right. Where the tool didn't do what I expected I worked out my own way and wrote that down.

Lontra
What do people ask you most?

Super-user
Three things. How to close a job, how to find one they didn't create, and why they can't see the contracts bit. Closing is the big one, it needs a part code and people don't have it to hand.

Lontra
Do you use the tool and the spreadsheet yourself?

Super-user
I do both. I have to. I've started keeping a tally of how many jobs I enter twice, just for myself.

Lontra
Who do you report to, as a super-user?

Super-user
Nobody, really. The project team had a catch-up with us every other week for the first three months. Then it stopped when they moved on to the next thing.

Lontra
What would you want instead?

Super-user
Someone whose job it is. Not a volunteer. Me doing it at lunch isn't a plan.

Excerpt from the Deep Study conversation with: Super-user, service coordinator · Volunteered to help colleagues, about two hours a week

Lontra
You said you'd started a tally of jobs you enter twice. Could you tell me what it shows?

Super-user
I shared it. One week of my own. Seventy-four jobs in the tool, sixty-one of them typed again into the sheet, about a hundred minutes on the second entry.

Lontra
Wednesday shows 19 jobs, 17 of them entered twice and 27 minutes. Why is Wednesday the heaviest?

Super-user
Wednesday is the busiest day for calls. Monday and Tuesday are planned work, by Wednesday the week's problems have turned up. Also it's the day the team leads ask for their sheet to be topped up.

Lontra
And the thirteen that weren't entered twice?

Super-user
Mostly engineer call-backs. The sheet doesn't have a column for them, so I don't bother.

Lontra
Your cheat sheet. Where would you want it to go?

Super-user
To someone who can check it. I'm fairly sure a couple of my workarounds are wrong, and I'd rather someone fixed it than the whole floor copied it.
Change lead, transformation team Ran the rollout until week eight, now a few hours a week · 24 min

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Excerpt from the conversation with: Change lead, transformation team · Ran the rollout until week eight, now a few hours a week

Lontra
When the tool went live, what did you expect usage to look like by now?

Change lead
Everyone on it by week four. That was the plan. Team spreadsheets read-only, the tool as the one place.

Lontra
The plan you shared says team spreadsheets go read-only at week four. What happened at week four?

Change lead
It didn't happen. One of the managers needed the Friday workbook for one more month, which seemed reasonable, and nobody put a new date in. By week eight we were already being pulled onto the next project.

Lontra
The plan also says handover to operations at week eight, with the owner to be confirmed. Who owns how the tool is used today?

Change lead
Operations, on paper. In practice I do a few hours a week, IT does the access, and the super-users do what they can. There isn't one person whose job is how people are using it.

Lontra
What did training look like?

Change lead
Ninety minutes per team, the week before go-live. There was no budget to run it again. For people joining later there was going to be a self-serve guide. I haven't written it.

Lontra
There's a weekly report in the tool. Has anyone been using it?

Change lead
We built it in month three. It has the same numbers as the Friday workbook, I think. Nobody told us it wasn't right, so I assumed it was fine.

Lontra
You said you think it has the same numbers. Has anyone compared them?

Change lead
No. Honestly, no. And we knew new accounts for engineers were slow, so we told crews to share a van login until theirs came through. Then nobody told them to stop.
IT support analyst Second line for the tool, a desk of three · 16 min

Read the conversation

Excerpt from the conversation with: IT support analyst · Second line for the tool, a desk of three

Lontra
What do people contact IT about for this tool?

IT support analyst
Not bugs, mostly. Access. Who can see what. Three tickets in four are access or 'I can't find this'. And it's nearly always people who joined since go-live. The questions are things that were in the training.

Lontra
When someone needs a new account, what happens?

IT support analyst
The line manager approves, then the tool's owner in operations, then us. We do our bit in a day. The other two steps are where it waits. For engineers it can be three or four weeks.

Lontra
In the usage export you shared, field engineers show 46 licences, 11 active in the last 30 days, and 402 jobs closed. How do those fit together?

IT support analyst
Shared logins. I can see a login, not a person. One van login can close forty jobs a week and I'd see one user.

Lontra
How many vans are sharing?

IT support analyst
I don't know. I couldn't tell you without ringing every depot.

Lontra
Where does the active-user figure get reported?

IT support analyst
It's in the steering pack as active users. It says eleven out of forty-six and everyone reads that as the rest not using it.

Lontra
What would help most from where you sit?

IT support analyst
A named person on the business side who decides who gets what access. Right now every request is a negotiation.
Regional operations manager Covers the service desk and field scheduling · 14 min

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Excerpt from the conversation with: Regional operations manager · Covers the service desk and field scheduling

Lontra
How do you use the tool yourself?

Regional operations manager
I don't, day to day. My teams do. I told them in the first week that the tool is the system of record, full stop.

Lontra
What do you look at each week to see how your teams are doing?

Regional operations manager
The Friday workbook. Eleven columns, I know it by heart. It lands on Friday afternoon and I read it Monday morning before the nine o'clock operations call.

Lontra
Where do the numbers in the workbook come from?

Regional operations manager
The team spreadsheets, I think. My operations administrator puts it together.

Lontra
You said the tool is the system of record. And the workbook is built from the spreadsheets. Which one do you go with when they differ?

Regional operations manager
The workbook. I've used it for six years and I know what's in it. I'd never really thought of asking for the workbook as telling them to keep the spreadsheets.

Lontra
If the tool gave you the same eleven columns, would you use it?

Regional operations manager
Yes. Straight away. Nobody has shown me one. Nobody has said, here's your report in the new tool.

Lontra
Who would you ask if you wanted that?

Regional operations manager
No idea. The project team were around until the summer and then they weren't.

Lontra
Is there someone who knows how the workbook is built?

Regional operations manager
My operations administrator. She'd know where every number comes from. Talk to her.

Excerpt from the Deep Study conversation with: Regional operations manager · Covers the service desk and field scheduling

Lontra
Last time you said you'd use the tool's report if it gave you your eleven columns. The project team say a weekly report was built in month three. Have you seen it?

Regional operations manager
I have now, they sent it over. It's got eight of my eleven columns.

Lontra
Which three are missing?

Regional operations manager
Missed visits by reason, the flag for anything open more than five days, and the split by depot. I'd use it for the eight and ask for the other three.

Lontra
What would it take for you to stop asking for the workbook?

Regional operations manager
Those three columns and a date. If somebody says from the first of the month the Friday numbers come out of the tool, fine. I'll tell the teams myself.

Lontra
You mentioned your operations administrator builds the workbook. Has she ever put it next to the tool's report?

Regional operations manager
Not that I know of. That's a fair question for her.
Billing administrator, 3 years in role Closes completed jobs for invoicing · 7 min

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Excerpt from the conversation with: Billing administrator, 3 years in role · Closes completed jobs for invoicing

Lontra
How do you use the tool?

Billing administrator
To close jobs for invoicing. When they're done.

Lontra
What do you do there?

Billing administrator
Check they're complete. Then I do the invoice run from my sheet.

Lontra
Why from your sheet?

Billing administrator
Always done it that way.

Lontra
Is there anything in the tool that would make that easier?

Billing administrator
Not sure. I haven't really looked.

Lontra
Is there anything you'd want the project team to know?

Billing administrator
It's okay. It's just another thing to fill in.
Operations administrator, 5 years in role Builds the Friday workbook for the regional manager · 13 min · joined in Deep Study

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Excerpt from the Deep Study conversation with: Operations administrator, 5 years in role · Builds the Friday workbook for the regional manager

Lontra
Your manager suggested we talk to you, because you build the Friday workbook. How does it come together?

Operations administrator
Thursday I ask each team lead for their sheet. They send them Thursday at four, or Friday morning. I paste them into the workbook, tidy up the columns and check the totals. It's about two and a half hours on a Friday.

Lontra
Does anything in the workbook come from the tool?

Operations administrator
No. Only the sheets. I do have a login for the tool. I haven't opened it.

Lontra
What happens when two sheets disagree?

Operations administrator
It's most weeks. A team lead has the same job twice, or one in the wrong week. I ring them, they check, and sometimes I just have to pick.

Lontra
Has anyone shown you the tool's weekly report?

Operations administrator
No. I wouldn't know where to start. If it had missed visits by reason I'd stop doing this tomorrow.

About this study

The question

“I want to understand why, six months after go-live, so few teams use the new planning and ticketing tool as their main way of working, and what is in the way for each of them.”

A facilities-services company with 650 staff. Ten people took part: two team leads, three service coordinators (one of them the super-user), a field engineer, a billing administrator, the project's change lead, an IT support analyst and a regional operations manager. Each conversation lasted 5 to 24 minutes. Deep Study went back to two of them and spoke to one colleague a participant suggested.

What Lontra asked about

What each team does with the tool and with its own spreadsheet in a normal day
What happened to training, access and support after go-live
Which numbers managers look at each week and where they come from
What each team would change first

Ask your results

Answers from 10 conversations and 3 documents

These are questions the organiser asked about this study. Each answer shows the quotes it rests on.

Why are people still keeping the spreadsheet?

Because the Friday report is built from it. The service desk and billing keep it so their numbers reach the workbook, and the regional manager asks for the workbook without having thought of it as an instruction to keep the sheets.

The project's plan had the spreadsheets going read-only at week 4. A manager asked for one more month of the workbook, no new date was set, and the project team was moved on before anyone came back to it.

Show 3 sources

“Because Friday's report comes off the spreadsheet, so it has to be in the spreadsheet.”

Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role

“nobody put a new date in.”

Change lead, transformation team

“I'd never really thought of asking for the workbook as telling them to keep the spreadsheets.”

Regional operations manager

Is the number of active users the whole story?

No. The steering pack shows 11 of 46 engineer licences active, but those engineers closed 402 jobs in the same period, because crews share a van login. The figure counts logins, not people, so it understates use by field engineers. It also says nothing about the service desk, where people are logged in but still keep the sheet.

IT cannot tell how many vans share a login without asking each depot, so the real number of engineers using the tool is not known.

Show 3 sources

“It says eleven out of forty-six and everyone reads that as the rest not using it.”

IT support analyst

“Two of us on the van. We use the van login.”

Field engineer, 9 years with the company

“Then nobody told them to stop.”

Change lead, transformation team

Did anyone say the tool works well?

One team did, with a reason attached. Field scheduling uses it all day, but the team lead says the tool is the only way to produce a visit plan, and that without that they would probably have gone back to the spreadsheet. One engineer said it works fine mostly, in four words, and one billing administrator called it okay.

Only one person from field scheduling took part.

Show 3 sources

“Nobody chose it, we had no other route.”

Team lead, field scheduling, 2 years in role

“No. Works fine mostly.”

Field engineer, 9 years with the company

“It's okay. It's just another thing to fill in.”

Billing administrator, 3 years in role

What would they change first?

Choose one place and say which one counts. Beyond that the asks are specific: let a job be saved without the asset ID, give new joiners a one-page guide, show the regional manager the report that already exists, and name one person who decides who gets access and who owns how the tool is used.

Show 4 sources

“Pick one. Tell us which one counts and switch the other off.”

Team lead, service desk, 6 years in role

“Let me save the job without the asset ID and chase it after the call.”

Service coordinator, 5 years with the company

“Someone whose job it is. Not a volunteer.”

Super-user, service coordinator

“A named person on the business side who decides who gets what access.”

IT support analyst

In your own study, you type questions here and Lontra answers from your conversations. Start your own study

Lontra says when the evidence is not enough. It never invents a quote.

People use the tool where it is the only way to get their output, and keep the spreadsheet everywhere else, because the Friday report is still built from it.

What people said

Where accounts differ

Why the spreadsheet is still there

Team leads and coordinators 4 people

Regional manager 1 person

Project team 1 person

Documents

What we still don’t know

Deep Study

Who took part

Ask your own question